1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic sensor or sensor device, in particular an acceleration sensor, having a sensor housing in which a chip module is mounted, the sensor housing having plug contacts that are connected via electrical connections to terminals that are situated on a module housing of the chip module.
2. Description of Related Art
Such a sensor, in which the chip module is mounted immediately in the sensor housing without a substrate or circuit board, is known from published German patent document DE 10 2006 037 691 A1. Here, it is necessary to form press-in zones in the module housing itself and to form corresponding press-in pins on the sensor housing.
However, differing from the named generic prior art, the most widely distributed type of sensor manufacture is the assembly of an SMD-capable module housing (whose design is oriented towards a standard chip housing, e.g. SOP), containing the sensor chip, the ASIC (signal processing chip), and, if warranted, passive components, on a circuit board using standard SMD processes. The equipped circuit board is subsequently mounted, using binding processes or soldering processes or cold contacting technology (press-in technology, insulation-piercing clamps, etc.), in a previously manufactured plastic housing having metallic inserts. Finally, this sensor housing (the final housing of the sensor) is sealed with a roof (glued, laser-welded, etc.) or is cast with a filling material. Such a chip module provided for fastening on a substrate is known for example from DE 10 2004 058 815 A1. In these designs, a circuit board is accordingly required as a bearer of the module housing and of passive components that may be present. Today, this technology and the assembly processes associated therewith have a strong determining effect on the price and marketability of a sensor, with regard also to the forthcoming development/conversion of solder techniques to lead-free solders and the associated development costs.
In the area of the module housing, a large number of housings and “pin shapes” are known. In particular, dual in-line packages (DIP) are known as module housings, though not in their original shape having terminal pins provided for “plug-through assembly” in metallic circuit board bores, but rather having terminals designed for currently standard surface mounting technology (SMD).